Booklist Reviews 2007 April #2/*Starred Review*/ When Marie Peary, daughter of the famous explorer, was six weeks old, her mother wrapped her in a caribou skin bag, furs, and an American flag. Young Marie had a childhood like no other. Called Snow Baby by the Inuit, who had never seen a blonde, blue-eyed child, she moved back and forth between the icy domains where her father kept camp as he continued his expeditions and the U.S., where her mother's relatives led a genteel life. Kirkpatrick had great source material to work with: both Marie and her mother wrote their own books. But her own involving writing gets this right down to children's level as she picks out the details that will appeal to them most: Christmas in arctic climes, a frightening shipwreck, Marie's friendships with Inuit children. She wisely frames the youngster's personal story against a larger one--the repeated struggles of her father to reach the North Pole. This has everything--adventure, longing for a parent, the juxtaposition of cultures--all wrapped up in an attractive package, studded with fabulous photographs. A solid bibliography and source notes for the quotes are appended. ((Reviewed April 15, 2007)) Copyright 2007 Booklist Reviews.

----------------------Horn Book Guide Reviews 2007 FallMarie Ahnighito Peary (daughter of North Pole explorer Robert Peary) loved her childhood home in the Arctic. In this absorbing book, Kirkpatrick artfully conveys the beauty of the region as well as the sense of adventure and peril faced by the Peary family. Historic family photos and maps enhance the vivid prose. Bib., ind. Copyright 2007 Horn Book Guide Reviews.

----------------------Kirkus Reviews 2007 February #1Kirkpatrick casts an unusual sidelight on the exploits of Peary and Henson with this profile of Peary's daughter Marie, who was born in 1893 in a two-room house in northern Greenland, and spent large portions of her youth north of the Arctic Circle. In the sparely written chronicle of her travels and in the healthy suite of accompanying photos, she comes across as a lively sort, as comfortable at sea or on the ice as in her well-to-do grandparents' household or the Peary's idyllic Maine island retreat. The photos are atmospherically tinted to look like platinum prints and are about equally divided between shots of Marie in refined city dress and in heavy furs. The author leaves a few questions unanswered--readers will have to look elsewhere for the significance of Marie's middle name, "Ahnighito," for instance. Further, she covers the last six decades of her life as a memoirist and children's author in a few sentences. Still, Kirkpatrick is frank enough to mention Marie's half-Inuit siblings, introduces a circle of colorful friends and associates and conveys some sense of what it was like to grow up with a famous, but often absent, father. (index, source notes) (Biography. 11-13) Copyright Kirkus 2007 Kirkus/BPI Communications. All rights reserved.

----------------------School Library Journal Reviews 2007 March

Gr 4-8-- Born north of the Arctic Circle in 1893, Marie Ahnighito Peary published her own version of her youth in 1934 (The Snowbaby's Own Story ), on which this book is based. Kirkpatrick's engaging text captures the girl's adventurous spirit and the opportunities that her father's life as an explorer presented, as well as her love of the North and her Inuit friends. Numerous black-and-white photos show the child growing up and pictures from the admiral's quest. A photo of four-month-old Marie reaching for a sunbeam--her first experience of sunlight after the long Arctic night--is especially poignant. It's impossible not to contrast the more staid images of traditional portraits with the lively candid shots of her at a ship's helm or standing with her Inuit friends dressed in animal skins. Children will relate to nine-year-old Marie's letter urging her father to stay home rather than go exploring again. Notes divided into primary and secondary sources, a bibliography, and acknowledgments reveal Kirkpatrick's thoughtful scholarship and reliance on Peary's book. A terrific addition for most collections.--Janet S. Thompson, Chicago Public Library